BLACK FALCON starts „Mission Title Defense“ in Monza

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Blancpain GT Series – Preview Round 1, Monza

BLACK FALCON is returning to the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2019 as the defending champions. The new season kicks off on April 13th at the historic Monza circuit and once again the team will race Mercedes-AMG GT3 in both the top-level Pro class and the Silver Cup. The competition in both classes will be intense and the opposition is expected to be stronger than ever this year. They say never change a winning team, therefore five of the team’s six drivers who raced in the Endurance Cup with BLACK FALCON in 2018 join the team for the title fight in 2019.

The #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 will compete in the Pro class for all-professional driver line-ups and the crew remains unchanged to last year. Its drivers will be team veterans and defending champions Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands), Maro Engel (Germany) and Luca Stolz (Germany). Maro and Luca will also be competing in the additional five Sprint events that alternate with the Endurance Cup, with the aim of taking the next step up and becoming the overall Blancpain GT Series champions. 

In Silver Cup Patrick Assenheimer (Germany), Hubert Haupt (Germany) and Gabriele Piana (Italy) line up in the #6 AMG. Last year Hubert and Gabriele came close to clinching the Silver Cup title, so they will be looking to use their new partnership with Patrick to build on their impressive 2018 performance. 

BLACK FALCON will be fighting hard to repeat the success of 2018, and their expectations were buoyed by a strong performance at the official test days held at Circuit Paul Ricard in France. Maro Engel topped the timesheets on the first day, with the #6 AMG also emerging as the fastest car in Silver Cup in three of the four sessions. 

On Saturday April 13th at Monza, the opening Free Practice at 11:30 CET will be followed by the 90-minute Pre-Qualifying session at 17:15 CET. Qualifying takes place at 09:40 CET on Sunday morning, ahead of the three-hour race which will go green at 15:00 CET.  

For all qualifying sessions and races, an extensive live streaming service including live timing will be available on the official Blancpain GT Series website, YouTube and Facebook channels. Further information about Team BLACK FALCON, live updates, behind-the-scenes and driver interviews are available daily on the team's social media channels:

instagram.com/teamblackfalcon          facebook.com/teamblackfalcon

Timetable (All times CET)
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Monza

Saturday, 13^th April
11:30 – Free Practice
17:15 – Pre-Qualifying

Sunday, 14^th April
09:00 – Qualifying *
15:00 – Start Race *

* Livestream: https://blancpain-gt-series.com

Race Dates 2019

Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup 

Round 1: 13^th - 14^th April (Italy, Monza)

Round 2: 11^th - 12^th May (United Kingdom, Silverstone)

Round 3: 31^st May - 1^st June (France, Paul Ricard)

Round 4: 25^th – 28^th July (Belgium, Spa-Francorchamps)

Round 5: 28^th – 29^th September (Spain, Barcelona)